INDIANAPOLIS -- The NCAA Women’s Water Polo Committee has announced the 10 teams that will be vying for the 2015 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship. The top six teams have been placed in the bracket; the remaining four teams will compete for the last two berths in the bracket via two play-in games.
The play-in games will be conducted May 2. The winners will advance to the championship, which will be held May 8-10 at the Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford, California. Stanford University will serve as the host institution. The 2015 championship will be an eight-team, single-elimination tournament (12 games), with a losers’ bracket to determine places three through eight.
In the play-in games, UC San Diego (18-18) will host Whittier (21-14). The winner will be placed in the championship bracket to play UCLA (24-2) in Game 3. In the other play-in game, Princeton (29-3) will host Wagner (25-8), with the winner advancing to the championship bracket to play Stanford (22-2) in Game 1.
Rounding out the bracket will be Southern California (22-5) facing Hawaii (18-8) in Game 2 and California (19-7) competing against UC Irvine (19-8) in the fourth game.
Automatic qualifiers were awarded to the Big West Conference (Hawaii), Collegiate Water Polo Association (Princeton), Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (Wagner), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (UCLA), Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Whittier) and the Western Water Polo Association (UC San Diego). The remaining four teams were selected at large without geographical restrictions.